road to recovery?
by noruas bombadil
Summary: continuation of Suzanna Telmarvak, Pyrrha and Suzanna have died and Luke has run off. Ren and Nora are living with Jorge. And Jaune is wrestling his own personal problems. and someone from a previous tale returns.
1. Chapter 1

Yang awoke early the and opened her eyes to see that Jaune was still laying in his hospital bed asleep. that was a little strange since he normally woke up before her but she guessed that dying and then be resurrected was an exhausting process so she let it slide, this time. she still didn't know how Jaune got a pulmonary edema but she was sure that it wasn't good.

she clung a little tighter to him as she kept on thinking about all the friends she had lost in the last two days. first Pyrrha was gone and Luke had run off.

The thought crossed her mind that Suzanna had been murdered as well. The realization that she hadn't even given her a thought until now brought a sick feeling to her stomach. She may not have liked Suzanna but that didn't mean that she should have died. All the same, she also knew that nobody was thinking clearly so she tried not to beat herself up too much about it.

She looked up when she heard the door open. When she looked at who had opened it she saw a small boy who had what looked like what seemed like mouse ears and a tail. That almost touch the ground. When Yang noticed that he hadn't been to one to open the door and almost didn't believe what she saw.

Yang wasn't a military expert but she was relatively certain that General James J. Ironwood certainly wasn't supposed to be showing small faunus children around the Beacon infirmary.

"Here he is. Do you want to stay here?" the general said as he gestured to Jaune. The little boy stood for a moment and then nodded his head to say yes. And with that General Ironwood left the boy there and quickly walked away. Which made sense to Yang. after all, he was probably a busy man so he couldn't afford a long time to this errand.

The boy stood in the doorway for a time until Yang realized that he was waiting for permission to come in. "you can come in." she said trying her best to both smile sweetly and slip a little charm into her voice. She knew that this boy was afraid and she wanted to change that. Besides, this would prove to be a suitable distraction.

He walked over to her and sat down next to her in a chair that Yang had brought over for him. "Is he gonna be okay?" the child asked. His voice showed that he was nervous about Jaune. And extremely so even though Yang had no idea who he was.

"Yeah, he is gonna be okay. He got hurt pretty bad on his mission but he is okay now." as Yang answered she caught herself from trying to put her hand on Jaune's forehead. She wanted to just feel the warmth of his blood but she stopped herself. She needed to exercise some manner of control. If not then she may never be able to leave the side of his bed.

"But he was fine when we…" the boy stopped himself and clamped his hand over his mouth as though he had said too much and was now trying to keep himself from saying anything else.

"When you what?" Yang questioned. Now she wanted to know what the boy was hiding. He seemed like he was ready to crack so she asked again with a bit more authority. "When you what?"

He opened his mouth to say what he was hiding when his eyes focused on something behind her. He quickly leaped past Yang and began yelling. " mister, you're okay, you're okay." he was rather violently hugging Jaune who seemed to have just woken up.

"Hey Walt, how is it going buddy. I thought I told you to wait with the pilot until a man I sent got you?" as Jaune asked he sat upright showing no signs of discomfort.

The answer was fast and clearly, one that the boy had been getting ready to give for some time now. "I did and he came but he told me you were hurt so I asked if we could come and see you and we did, then he left."

Jaune smiled and said. "Well, in that case, why don't you and I go see the rest of my team for a little while, would you like to do that."

Walt nodded aggressively and said. "Are they like her,?" as she asked he pointed at Yang. "she's nice." then he leaned in and tried to whisper. Despite his best efforts, he was still heard by Yang. "she is also very pretty."

This earned a laugh from Jaune. "Yes they are like her, they are all nice and yes they are all pretty."

Upon having his whisper openly revealed Walt began to turn various shades of red. "Ohhh, you really think I am pretty," Yang spoke/yelled as she wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up. And held him close. Much to Jaune's surprise, Walt found a way to actually get redder as Yang carried him away.

Once they had left the room Jaune lifted up his gown and looked at his chest. When he saw the spot that Jorge had healed he placed his hand on it in shock. He still knew not how it had happened but he was impressed that the scars and bruises were now gone.

Quickly getting dressed in his usual clothes having to do without his shirt since it had been cut off of him. He made his way to team RWBY's dorm and slowly opened the door and saw that the girls had surrounded Walt and were all talking to each other as they took turns holding him in their lap before they passed him to the next one.

"All I am saying is that the only time he could have gotten that kind of injury was on his last mission. At no point after that did he undergo anything that would cause a pulmonary edema of that level. But there still had to be something that accelerated the process otherwise he would have died much sooner." that one talking was Blake the team medic for lack of a better term.

"But we still don't know what happened on that mission. And the only thing that has ever caused that kind of injury on a huntsman is a massive explosion or maybe a huge blunt force impact." now it was Weiss offering her opinion.

When she spoke Walt's eyes grew in what seemed to be shock and horror and he ran across the room to Jaune with tears in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." he wrapped his arms around Jaune and buried his face in his side. This muffled his cries but he still seemed to be begging for Jaune to forgive him.

This was a little confusing to the rest to the team since they still didn't know who Walt really was.

Recognizing this and seeming to put all the pieces together Jaune reached down and scooped up the still crying Walt saying. "Hey, buddy that wasn't your fault okay, you did nothing wrong. And I am fine. Why don't we go find Cardin I think you may like him." as he turned to leave he looked back at the team and quietly told them that he would be back soon.

After he left the girls waited for a few minutes in silence, with Pyrrha dead the air wasn't right for small talk and none of them actually knew anything about what Jaune was going to say when he got back.

When he did return Jaune was without Walt. "before you ask he is currently at team CFVY's dorm." When they heard this they all nodded in understanding. The relationship between Cardin and Velvet was one of the schools worst kept secrets. Thankfully no one who would object to it had the balls or bravado to confront either the 6 foot 6 and still growing giant of Cardin and they definitely weren't picking a fight with Velvet since her partner was 7 feet even and looked like he could rip a tree out of the ground.

"Okay," Jaune said pulling a chair over to where team RWBY was sitting. "While Luke and I were on our last mission we were temporarily separated from each other. I secured the landing site of the bullhead and Luke waited in the woods in order to be able to surprise the last wave of combatants we needed to face. After their first wave of attackers found themselves on the receiving end of my barrel,"

While he spoke he gestured to where his C.A.S.A.C.O.M. was propped up against the wall. He would need to check that back into his locker soon. Students weren't really supposed to have weapons in their dorms. ( not that anyone had ever enforced that rule. After all the staff knew that these kids needed to feel trusted. And being told that you needed to master a weapon you couldn't normally have with you didn't help.)

"After I dealt with them they tried a different approach, they tied two anti-personnel mines together and then hung them on the shoulders on a child. I guess they thought that I wouldn't shoot a kid and since the bullhead had just arrived they needed to act fast. That child was Walt."

Now Jaune looked passes them as though he was remembering what he had seen. "He was so scared, the people he thought were his friends just strapped bombs to his chest and told him to go run at the guy with the gun. I had a choice to make shoot him and ensure my on safety, or try to find another way to handle the situation."

After a pause Jaune crack a smile and said: "so naturally I waited until he reached me and then took off the mines before my own stupid instincts kicked in."

As his grin morphed to the smile that showed he was guilty of something. Yang soon suspected what it was. "YOU DIDN'T!" she said her own annoyance showing through.

The grin growing into an awkward smile Jaune said. "Yeah, I did," looking around he realized that no one else had understood what he meant. As a result, he had to tell them outright. "I may have thrown myself on the mines."

With that said he looked around the room once more and was greeted with several faces ranging from shock and awe to horror and dismay.

"You did what!" Blake yelled clearly just as mad as Yang. how could he have done something so reckless?

Weiss was shocked beyond words and Ruby looked at him as though an immortal badass had just become more immortal and badass.

Realizing that he needed to handle this fast Jaune said. "I know it was stupid but I was wearing armor and I had all my aura. If I just threw them away then I risked them going off and hurting Walt or damaging the bullhead. It wasn't the right choice but it was the best one."

That seemed to placate their collective anger and hero worship. So he continued. "After that, I killed all the fang that I could see and put Walt up in the cockpit with the pilots. I told them to get him to my Nesmer street safe house and that a friend of mine would get him from there." Jaune briefly took a thoughtful pose. "That reminds me I need to get the key back from Walt at some point." shaking his head to focus back to the moment. "After that, I called Jorge and told him what had happened. He said he was sending someone."

"Yeah, General freaking IRONWOOD!" Yang declared. "How did Jorge manage that?"

Jaune could only shrug. He had no idea how Jore did it but it seemed to have happened.

"Then I got back and…" at this point Jaune seemed to get lost in himself. It was after he got back from his mission that he heard that both Pyrrha and Suzanna had died. He was still processing it. They all were.

"Well, uhm," Jaune was trying to keep his focus. If he allowed himself to get lost in his feelings now it would control him for the rest of the day. "After that, I wound up training with Professor Port where I received a good hit to my side. I think that is what pushed my injury to near lethal levels, but hey I am still alive so, no big deal."

It was at this point that team RWBY realized that no one told Jaune that he had actually died. Not that Yang cared, what he had said was the perfect combination of ill-timed humor and self-deprecation that she lost all control and slapped him before storming out in a anger and sadness fueled outburst. She was soon joined by Weiss and Ruby. both of whom neglected to slap their leader but were equally unhappy with him.

That left Blake. She was the most emotionally resistant of the bunch so she simply stared at Jaune. "You did in fact die, it was who Dr. Taft declared you dead. Then Jorge did something, we don't know what and he seemed to bring you back to life. He said that there would be Hell for him to pay but that he made your dad a promise."

Jaune needed a moment to process this. Then his eyes grew in shock. "Oh," he said understanding just how bad his choice of words was. "I think I owe them an apology don't I?"

Blake opted to answer with just a nod instead of words.

With that Jaune got back to his feet and went off to look of his team. He had just made it out of the door when he heard a rather loud ruckus around the corner. It sounded like yelling.

"You need to get the hell away from me and my sister." it sounded like Yang… and now Jaune was running.

"I don't want to see you two get hurt, he is a hazard to be near. He has already gotten one of his teammates killed and three others have all run off, please I am worried about you." it sounded like Sky from team CRDL. and he seemed to honestly be worried.

"Seriously, death follows him everywhere he goes. His first op almost got two of you killed, his second got a civilian killed. And now half of his team has either died or deserted. He will get the two of you killed, please I am begging you. I don't like any of you but I don't want to you to die because of that fool's incompetence." the new voice sounded like it was Dove.

"I SAID THAT YOU NEED TO GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME AND MY SISTER!" now Yang seemed to be mad enough to start crushing skulls. And she was about to have help from Jaune. When something occurred to Jaune. They were right. He had been getting his friends killed left and right. First Gypsum and Bud and now Pyrrha and Suzanna. He was a danger to all of them.

Soon Jaune found himself staggering down the halls of Beacon like he had almost four months before. That time he had found Suzanna and Jorge had worked to control the darkness he now felt. This time it was worse, it was so much worse.

…

Yang was furious, although that seemed to be her default state recently she didn't care. Jaune just seemed to not care about his own safety in the slightest. He had DIED not even a day ago and now he was making jokes about it. She and Ruby went one way and Weiss seemed to head the other.

Once they rounded the corner they were meet with Sky and Dove. the two boys seemed shocked to see them but quickly composed themselves in a way that made Yang think that they had been meaning to talk with her and Ruby and were in fact on their way to their dorm.

"Listen, uhm. We heard about Pyrrha. And we're sorry for your loss. We may not have been the best of friends but still. No one deserves that." Sky said. He seemed to be the one who was leading this pair. And they were tense. Too tense to just be here to offer their condolences.

"I am going to cut to the chase here," Dove said. "Me and Sky think you need to adjust your team, Arc is bad luck. You need to remove him from your team or something, just get him away from you. We don't want to see what happened to Pyrrha happen to you too."

Now Yang was beside herself these dirtbags were telling her to abandon Jaune, sure she was pissed at him but he was still her friend and whether she liked it or not she loved him.

"You need to get the Hell away from me and my sister" as she spoke Yang stepped ahead of Ruby and began to place her arm in front of Ruby. It was a little much but right now she was feeling overprotective so neither of them cared.

"I don't want to see you two get hurt, he is a hazard to be near. He has already gotten one of his teammates killed and three others have all run off, please I am worried about you." sky said

"Seriously, death follows him everywhere he goes. His first op almost got two of you killed, his second got a civilian killed. And now half of his team has either died or deserted. He will get the two of you killed, please I am begging you. I don't like any of you but I don't want to you to die because of that fool's incompetence." Dove followed.

As he spoke his words were filled with so much sincerity that if Yang wasn't of angry she may have to start thinking differently of the boy. Sure they started out as assholes but losing a pier can change anyone, even them. That combined with the fact that their team leader had under a very serious change himself. And that Yang rarely spoke to team CRDL anyway. They may have honestly meant this and she would have cared more if she wasn't growing more and angrier.

"I SAID THAT YOU NEED TO GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME AND MY SISTER!" now Yang was mad enough to start crushing was reaching out to grab ahold of them when the anger she had been feeling was suddenly been drowned out by a feeling of sadness that she had only felt once before. Next, she was assaulted by the sound of heavy and fast footsteps on the hallway heading away from her. She did a quick step around the corner and saw Jaune as he rounded the opposite corner. He was going faster than anyone she had ever seen with the one exception of Ruby.

She tried to give chase but he was soon way too far away for her to catch him. So she went back to her room got out her scroll and started calling. Her friends. All the ones she had made at Beacon and Weiss. She was for lack of a better word putting out a BOLO on Jaune.

She wanted to be out looking for him but she knew that he may come back soon and even if he didn't if she was running around looking for him she may not be ready when he was found. So much to her own displeasure, she would wait.

Yang had been waiting and waiting for what felt like forever when she finally got a call from… Jaune.

When she answered it she was meet with the face not of Jaune but of Junior. "Hey Blonde come get your boy-toy," he said as he pointed behind him, Yang when to ask who her boy-toy was she saw Jaune sitting at the bar with a half-full bottle of some amber colored liquid in his hand.

Yang managed to catch herself from saying his name out of shock. "What is he doing there?" she asked. Her voice caring equal parts anger and worry.

"At the moment he is drinking himself into an early grave, he has already drank half my stock. The only thing that may stop him is the vodka since he dislikes clear alcohol. Either way get over here and get him home." after he finished he went to hang up when Yang spoke

"Why, why are you doing this? The last time you saw us we were destroying your club."

She didn't know what she was expecting but it wasn't what she got. "Romerean was an old friend of mine. He was on my team, that was how I knew about Jaune's vest when we first fought… it used to be mine. Now get over here."

The call dropped and Yang rushed to the Bullhead bay, she needed to either bribe or threaten a pilot but she needed to get down to vale as soon as she could. When she arrived she found a pilot waiting for her.

"You heading to Vale Xiao Long?" it was Chad Hajullaf

"Yes, but how did you know?" Yang said as she boarded the shuttle.

"Word travels fast and I owe Arc more than my life. So when I heard that he was missing I camped out down here since I am a licensed pilot I figured that I could be of some use to you. I guess I was right."

Buckling into the seat behind the pilot she sat back and waited for the ride to end.

…

Chad landed the bullhead as close as he could and Yang ran the rest of the way to the club. She was meet at the door by one of the twins. She didn't know the name but she knew that it was the red one.

"Hey, you may want to be careful in there. You blonde friend is in a mood," she said as Yang passed.

Yang offered a nod to acknowledge. She didn't think that she needed the advice after all Jaune was her friend and she was going to go in and get him out but she understood that the red sister was trying to be helpful.

She opened the doors and heard what sounded like an angry shouting match. "I SAID I AM PAYING YOU FOR WHAT I AM DRINKING, NO LESS." it was Jaune and it kinda made sense that he would be telling the bartender to let him pay his tab.

The other being involved was the white-clad twin. "I HAVE ALREADY TOLD YOU, YOU DRUNK FOOL. I HAVE BEEN TOLD TO NOT CHARGE YOU I CAN'T ACCEPT THE MONEY DUMBASS."

Yang made her way over to them and when the twin at the bar saw her she seemed to be washed in relief. "Finally someone this moron will listen to get him out of here please."

Yang nodded once more as she reached out a hand grabbed Jaune's shoulder. "Come on big guy let's get you back to school," she said as she tried to turn him away from his stool.

She was more than a little shocked when he shook his shoulder free from her hand and said "no way."

After a moment she tried again this time she was going to use one of his weaknesses, guilt.

"Jaune come on, ruby and the others are worried sick about you. Not to mention me. We need to get back to Beacon before Ruby starts crying." once more she tried to grab his shoulder and turn him out of his stool.

And once more he shook his shoulder free and said in an exhausted and frustrated voice. "You just don't get it do you," he paused for a moment. Before getting out of his seat and turning to face her. His eyes burned with an anger Yang had only seen once before. "I have tried to be nice and just play it off but you lot are just too naive to figure it out, hell I even died once to try and get out of dealing with you people. I mean seriously how can you be so stupidly foolish as to think that any of you actually deserve a friend like me, after all, I have done for you. Well, WHAT'S THE MATTER DON'T CHA HAVE ANY DUMB ANSWER."

there was a pause. When Yang felt her eyes begin to tear up. If anyone else had said that to her she would have burst into a ball of fiery vengeance and set about tearing their shit up. But this was Jaune, she loved him and he was telling her that he hated her. She opened her mouth but the words were robbed from her throat by a sinking feeling that was slowly creeping through her entire body

"YOU KNOW WHAT!" Jaune yelled as she put on his jacket. "I AM OUT OF HERE, YOU LOT ARE ON YOUR OWN." as he finished he stormed out of the club throwing a handful of wadded up lien at the bartender.

It was several minutes after Jaune had left that Yang managed to stagger out of the club herself. She needed to get back to Beacon, she didn't know what else to do. Jaune had just… he had just broken her heart. Even if he didn't know how much she loved him he still burned any kind of friendship they had.

"Hey little girl you seem lost." the voice that spoke to her was rough and came from a man who was standing in the mouth of an alleyway, he was flanked on both sides by men who seemed to be looking at her a similar way.

Not wanting to get into a fight and just wanting to crawl into bed Yang stuck her hand in her pocket and activated her scroll. She chose to call their bluff and she removed her scroll and sent Chad a text.

"My friend is on his way, but thank you for your offer." she found it remarkable how the serious nature of her current engagement managed to completely override her emotional pain

They took a collective step forward when she said that and she too shifted her left foot in front of her right adopting her usual fighting stance. She braced her right foot and prepared to throw a stiff right straight to knock out the leader. She brought her hands up to her face and then.

"HEY, I am counting to three. If anyone is still her other than her when I get there I'm gonna beat the piss out of you. One " Yang took a step to keep her hands facing the men and still being able to see the new voice.

She thought that she recognized it but was confused to see a face she had never seen before. He was about six foot two in height and looked to be about a hundred and ninety pounds. He had a beard that looked like he had been growing since the day he was born it was almost five inches long.

The three men who were about to fight Yang stopped in their tracks when he spoke. "Well, we uh. Didn't know you were in town Mr. Hansen…. I mean Mechanic, sir" the one who spoke looked absolutely horrified at the man before him.

"Two," the new man continued. As he spoke he kept walking towards the men his pace was aggressive but also seemed timed to have the three men time to run before he reached them or the number three.

He and one of the others ran as fast as they possibly could. The third man the leader of the group stood his ground, however. "I heard about you, they say where some kind of killer, said you dusted a few assassins around vale, but you know what. I ain't buying it, I never seen you fight. I never even seen you do anything more than standing a look like a fuckin dumbass."

"three,"

The final would be attacker quickly threw out a wide right hook obviously meant to end the fight as soon as he could. This was countered when the bearded stranger brought his left hand up to grab the back of his own head. This protected him from the strike and also put him position to wrap his left arm around the vagrants back and hooking his left armpit.

Then the stranger fired off a quick right hook to the scumbag's groin. He followed this up with a scooping action where he lifted poor sap's left leg up over his own head and then dropped to his left landing the sucker who choose to fight the stranger square on his head.

Before this attacker turned victim could regain his bearings the bearded man planted his right foot on the inside of his victim's left thigh. And hooked over it with his left leg. He then twisted his legs to torque the almost mugger's legs to his own left.

The final move came when the bearded stranger grasped the mugger's chin with his left hand and the back of his head with his right hand. In one swift movement, the stranger jolted even more torque on the mugger's legs and quickly snapped his head to the right. There was a disturbing crack and the man went limp. The stranger easily pushed the man off of him and got to his feet.

This left the man laying on the ground. "Did you just kill him?" Yang asked the mysterious man

"If I didn't, then the streets of Vale will, he has made me his enemy and everyone wants to kill my enemies." after he answered he looked up from the man and back to Yang. he covered the distance between them in two easy strides and stopped just far enough away that Yang wasn't going to try and move back but still as close as he could get.

"I heard an unknown girl at beacon was killed, please I am begging to take back there. I need to find out who killed her." the more he spoke the more Yang seemed to recognize his voice. He sounded like Bud but Bud was dead, he had been killed by a sniper months ago when Jaune and a few others shut down the white fang F.O.B. (Forward Operating Base for the non militarily inclined) in Vale.

Whoever he was Yang wasn't sure she could stop him even if she had a reason to. Whoever he was he was very determined. If she didn't help him then he would find his own way to get to Beacon and that way may not involve two trained students being right next to him.

After a moment of nervousness, Yang said, "sure, follow me Mr."

"Hasen," after he answered her she was actually more confused than before.

"Do you have a brother named Bud? She asked him. Wondering if he was one of Bud's siblings.

"Yes," he answered. "My name is Coby Hansen. I am the one who came by to look at your sabotaged technology. Bud was my brother." when he finished speaking he looks to the ground as though in shame.

"Well," Yang said looking him over. "You've changed. The last time I saw you. You were three and a half inches shorter, and you had no facial hair. So what gives?"

"This," he said as he reached into his satchel and pulled out a book that looked to be very old and very damaged book. "This is a handbook for the martial art known as Metalikato. It is the only thing I can think of to explain my new changes."

Yang found it odd that he would experience such a drastic change after reading a book but thought better than to argue with it for now.

And now that the adrenaline had died off the soul-crushing misery she had been feeling began to return. She leads Coby to the Bullhead in silence and that was how they spent the rest of the trip. But right now that was okay with Yang. she didn't want to talk either.


	2. Chapter 2

When they made it back to Beacon Chad stepped out of the cockpit and stopped only for a moment when he saw Coby was standing in the back with Yang.

"See, ya later Hansen," he said as he walked off to return to his usual plans. Which at almost 8 pm meant that he was most likely heading to the cafeteria.

"How did he know you?" Yang asked.

"He did me a favor a while back and so I did him one too," Coby said as he started to head toward the school. "Which way is the morgue. I want to get Lori's body and leave as soon as I could."

At this point, Yang realized that Coby was confused. Lori was one of the girls that came here with him. But she hadn't died. Yet if she had then she would have been an unidentified Jane Doe just like Suzanna. Yang didn't know where Lori was but she knew that she wasn't in the Beacon morgue.

She opened her mouth to say something when another voice called out over her own "Hansen!" turning they both Saw Coco from team CFVY standing at the doorway into the dorm complex with a photo in her hand. When Coby looked at her she pointed at him and motioned for him to follow her.

With that, she stormed off down the hall. Coby wasted no time in following her and soon they were gone from Yang's line of sight. That left her to her own devices. She knew that she should head to the cafeteria and eat something but she just wasn't hungry.

With that settled she headed back to her dorm. As she walked her mind started to play back the words that Jaune had said. "I have tried to be nice and just play it off but you lot are just too naive to figure it out, hell I even died once to try and get out of dealing with you people. I mean seriously…" Yang couldn't continue reliving that memory she was already beginning to cry once more.

She stumbled through the door to her team room and was met with her entire team looking at her. They quickly rushed over to her and began to ask her what happened.

"Yang, what's wrong?" Ruby asked her. She was trying her best to wrap Yang up in a hug but she was too small for it. Not that Yang minded she needed this. But she also needed to tell her team the truth.

"Jaune isn't coming back." she was shocked that she could say it without her voice breaking on her.

"What?" Blake said. She was clearly deeply worried by what she just heard. She had misjudged her friends before. And she hoped she didn't do it again.

"He isn't coming back," Yang repeated. She knew that she needed to say more, they deserved the full truth. So with tears in her eyes, she started. "He said that we didn't deserve a friend like him, she was so angry when he said it." Yang needed to take a minute to compose herself before she continued. She took a deep breath and looked up at her team.

Any chance of her continuing died when she saw the look of betrayal on their faces. Her heart broke for the second time that day when she saw the tears in Ruby's eyes. She had to fight her rising anger when she saw that. Weiss and Blake looked equally hurt. The four of them were then suddenly enveloped in a massive group hug.

The fact that it was Weiss who did this while important was overlooked. Right now they needed each other. And they needed time. It sounded cliche but they just needed to cry it out as not just a team but as a family.

Coby was uncertain of what he should expect from the woman who was leading him around the Beacon dorm complex. He had killed a couple of guys during his search of his brother's killer. In that journey, he had only found out that the killer worked with a major criminal syndicate being headed up by someone he had heard referred to as the queen. Other than that he was certain that the killer was a man and that was it.

So needless to say when a stranger knows his name a begins to lead him to an unknown location he was jumpy. She could be related to one of the men he had killed and want revenge or she could be working with the man he was tracking.

As they made their way he crossed paths with a pair of students. One was a boy with silver looking hair and a semi-scowl on his face and the other was a girl with green hair and a plastered on fake smile.

They passed each other in silence. But when the boy saw Coby he seemed to freeze for a moment. It was almost like he was having a deja vu when looking at him.

Odd stares aside they all went their own ways and that lead Coby to a door that he presumed to lead to this woman's room. With a mildly annoyed huff, she pushed open the door and walked in. Coby entered and began to sweep the room for threats. He stopped halfway through when his eyes meet with Lori's.

He was pretty sure that the woman that lead him there was speaking but he wasn't listening. In the blink of an eye, he crossed the room and threw his arms around her. Weeping he fell to his knees inadvertently dragging her down on her own knees.

"I'm so sorry," he managed to say with his head buried in her shoulder." I left and told nobody, baby I am so sorry."

Lori was just as shocked as Coby. she didn't recognize him at first but when he started talking she recognized his voice. She was planning to be mad when he finally came back but the way he was clinging to her gave her a feeling that something was off so she decided to put off on her wrath.

"Coby, what's wrong. You look like you've seen a ghost?" she asked as she gently rubbed the between his shoulder. She felt his body stiffen for an instant and then relax. If there was any doubt that this was Coby Hansen it had just died. That was one of his favorite areas to have massaged.

"I thought you were dead," he answered. His voice cracking near the end.

Lori felt her heart drop. She was afraid that he may have been hurt. But until a minute ago he KNEW that she was dead. She considered that a suitable punishment for the way he left.

After a moment of reassuring himself that she was alive, Coby managed to get to his feet. "I have been tracking the man who killed Bud," he said.

This got Lori's attention as he knew it would. Bud was like a brother to her. And she wanted his killer dead almost as bad as he did. "Do you know who HE is?" she asked.

"No, but I know who he works with and I will be moving on their location soon. I may need to get some help for that." he went to sit down in a chair that was near own of the desks.

"Oh no, you don't get to make yourself comfortable. This room is already over capacity as it is and we don't need you to be making it worse. If you need somewhere to stay go as the girls over at team RWBY they might have a bed that you can sleep in." Coco's voice showed just how annoyed at Coby she was. After all, this idiot broke his girlfriend's heart and then just returns out of now like nothing happened. Sure he said he was sorry but it took more than that to get off of Coco's shit list.

"Coco I think there is enough room in here for one more person, worst case scenario her can use my bed." Velvet said. She knew to a lesser extent what they were feeling so she was trying to keep the peace.

This prompted Coby to speak up. "Where would you be sleeping then?" he didn't want to force her out of her own bed and he certainly wouldn't be sharing one with her.

"She will be sleeping in her bed and you will not be sleeping here," Coco said. There was a definite tone of finality in her voice and Coby recognized this.

"I can take a hint I will check if team RWBY has anywhere I can sleep." with that he left and once he was out of the room Lori threw a pillow at Coco.

"What was that for?" Coco asked mildly annoyed and confused.

"I just got him back and you throw him at a team of all girls. If Jaune isn't there then he will be all alone with them." Lori said it was clear that she was annoyed and that she wanted to keep him away from any other girls.

"What's the matter are you worried about him losing sight of you when he is alone with four pretty, girls. In a small one room with only four beds. Are you afraid that one of them may try to appeal to his lesser instincts." Coco answered. Slipping into a more sultry voice to emphasize her point.

This earned her another pillow thrown at her head.

"That's not FUNNY" Lori yelled. She had just gotten Coby back and she didn't have long with him before he left to find Bud's killer. She understood why he did this but she still missed him and now he was forced to leave. She wanted to spend time with him.

"Don't worry small one," Yatsuhashi said from his place at one of the desks. "I have faith that you two will see each other again tomorrow." after a moment's pause he added. "And I do not think that Team RWBY will attempt any nefarious actions. They are most likely still mourning the loss of Pyrrha Nikos."

The giant's words brought Lori some sense of comfort. Tomorrow would eventually come and she would see Coby then. With that matter settled she laid her head to rest on her pillow and drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Coby knocked on the door to team RWBY's dorm and waited. He was uncertain what to expect but it wasn't to have the door thrown open by a sobbing Ruby who then did her best ask what was wrong. Not that he could tell by the sound of her he just figured it out through context.

"I just needed a place to stay for the night, what's wrong." he didn't know these girls all that well but he knew that Bud was in love with the one who now stood before him sobbing so he fell into his older brother mode and placed his arm around her in a semi-hug.

When he felt her stiffen at his touch he knew he had done something wrong so he removed his arm and asked once more. "What's the matter, you can tell me."

He was hoping that his voice was going to be enough to comfort her. And it seemed that it was.

"It's Jaune," she said between sobs.

This left him more confused than before, sure he hadn't seen Arc since he arrived but he figured that he was around here somewhere.

"I'm gonna need a little more detail than that, what happened to him," he asked

"The damn bastard played us, he pretended to care and was just hoping we would leave him alone." the shouted response was from the one that Coby remembered as Weiss and she too seemed to be upset

Coby nodded to Weiss who was sitting with the rest of the team "and WHERE might I find him, I think that we need to have words." he didn't know much but what he did know told him that Jaune was now due one hell of a beating.

"His room is room number 507 you'll find it in the east wing, that's where I would start."

The one who spoke was the remaining teammate. He didn't know her name but the way that her eyes seemed to narrow and her poorly concealed ears were standing he could tell that she wanted the shit kicked out Jaune for whatever he had done.

"No," Ruby said. "Your brother already fought Jaune and it nearly killed him,"

Standing up to his full height Coby twisted his head to one side and then the other to release the air pockets within them. This caused several cracking sounds that echoed through the room. "True," he said. "But I am NOT my LITTLE brother" he carefully stressed those two words to emphasize his point. Jaune fought Bud, and he was not Bud.

Coby left the room and headed in the direction of the room Blake provided him. He knew that the prefix of 5 meant that it was in the fifth wing of the building and from there it was just tracking down the last two sequential room numbers.

He navigated his way there and as he arrived he began to sweep the sector for any threats. Once he was certain that there weren't any traps waiting he pushed open the unlocked door.

Inside was Jaune, his back was to the door and he was packing a suitcase. Clearing his throat Coby did his best to like he was in charge. "You've got some nerve man, they lose two of their friends and then you decide to tell them that you pretty much hate them. I have half a mind to feed you your damn teeth. But I can smell from here that you're too drunk for you to really feel it so I guess I may have to settle for just beating the bolts out of you."

Jaune turned around to face him before he seemed to huff and get back to packing. With this blatant act of defiance, Jaune had forced Coby's hand. If he did nothing then Coby allowed Jaune to be in control and if Coby reacted he needed to be swift and absolute.

Traversing the space between them in a few short strides Coby reached out and grabbed the back of Jaune's left shoulder when he felt Jaune's shoulder tense up he knew that the fight was on.

Cardin was on his regular nightly walk, it was something that the doctor advised for his rehab and it was something that Velvet enforced with an iron grip. So here he was walking the halls. He planned to visit Jaune while he was at it and then stop by and speak with professor Port about a kind of Grimm he recently heard about.

As he turned the corner to see Jaune room he stopped for a moment when he saw what looked like a leg sticking out of the door. Then he noticed that the door itself was gone as well,

Slipping his hand into his pocket and pulling out his folding knife he approached the room slowly and then rounded the doorway in a smooth practiced motion. He saw someone who looked familiar but he couldn't quite place laying on the floor of Jaune's room he appeared to be in a great deal of pain and unable to move freely as he had bookshelf dropped on top of him. The fact that he was also unconscious was made clear by the fact that he was breathing just not strongly.

A problem Cardin attributed to the bookshelf laying atop the man. After a long moment, Cardin recognized him. It was the guy he had saved from Chad's team months ago. But he was larger now By quite a bit and he also had a beard that seemed impossibly large for the length of time he had to grow it.

But it was still there and so Cardin got the bookshelf back on its feet and then pulled the Hansen boy over his shoulder into a fireman's carry he was halfway to the infirmary when Hansen regained consciousness.

"Who the hell are you and where the hell am I?" he asked from his place atop Cardin's shoulder's

Cardin gave a tried growl and said. "You first why were you in my best friends room after what looked like a hand grenade went off inside of it?"

"I fought with the bastard after he yelled at his team and ran off." Coby countered do his best to both maintain authority while not angering the person who was holding over six feet off the ground.

"What happened to your knee?" Coby asked.

Upon looking down Cardin remembered that he was wearing his shorts that showed the scar tissue on his knees. " a madman, a razor blade, and a blowtorch."

After he answered there was an awkward silence. Cardin figured Hansen had no answer for that. And he was right.

The silence continued until they reached the infirmary. At which point Cardin placed him in a bed and told one of the nurses that he was banged up by a student. He also slipped her a twenty dollar bill to file him as being a student. He was technically an outsider but she knew enough about him to be enticed by the money. She felt it was the least she could do after his brother died on a Beacon mission.

Once he was set Cardin returned to his route. He didn't know what Jaune had done but he knew that it wasn't gonna end well.

Yang was sitting on her bed when she got a text from Coco It read.

"Why is Arc waiting at the Bullhead dock with a couple of suitcases, are you guys ACTUALLY going on a mission this soon.!?"

Yang filed away that Coco seemed to be entering into mama bear mode, a side she shone regularly whenever anyone had picked on Velvet.

Opting not to answer Yang simple got up and walked out. She didn't say where she was going and no one asked her. That was good because she needed to talk with Jaune and it wasn't going to be a pleasant talk.

She made her way to the Bullhead dock and got there just in time to see Jaune as he was boarding a Bullhead.

"So that's it?" she said. "You're gonna tear us up and then leave. Your team needs you now more than ever and your ass it getting on a Bullhead to go God only knows where." she could feel her hair was starting to smoke and would be a full blaze soon but she didn't care. This asshole had betrayed her trust. She couldn't just let that go.

"Aren't you gonna say anything, or do you not even have to courage to speak to me right now." his continued silence only served to fuel her anger. Who was he to not answer her?

"How on earth could anyone have ever thought that you could be a good father" Yang watched as Jaune's entire body tenses like he had been hit. And in a way he had. She could see him and start to lose their grip on cases he was carrying.

"That one stung didn't it, good." as she spoke she saw what looked like tears landing between his feet, he was facing away from her so she couldn't be certain but she would bet he was crying now.

"Go ahead," she jabbed. "Run away from your problems." you did it in Durant and you're doing it now."

When she saw Jaune's cases drop from his hand's Yang for the first time in this conversation realized that it may not have been a good idea to walk up to one of the most dangerous students she knew and then proceed to start tearing him apart on an emotional level. And to boot, she had left her weapons in her locker and Jaune's were probably in one of the cases that now lay on the floor of the Bullhead's Cargo Bay.

Without a word he reached over and closed the back door and disappeared from Yang's sight

"That was a low blow." came a voice behind her. She turned expecting to find one of her teammates but instead she saw Coco.

"Humpf," Yang grunted. "What do you know about low, do you know what he did?"

As she spoke Coco's voice took on a slightly more somber tone. "I know what happened in Durant, and I know what he lost. So unless you just had to bury your husband and unborn child I suggest you hope you see him again. That way you can apologize to him. Who knows he may forgive you."

As she thought of a response Yang realized that Coco was right. Jaune had acted like a dick and had run off but this was the second time the woman he loved died. And if you counted the first time Suzanna died then it was the third. That was bound to mess someone's head up.

Shaking her head she killed that thought. He had broken her heart. And there was no excuse for that.

"How do you know that?" Yang growled, she was more annoyed than curious. She wanted to find a way to discredit Coco's argument.

Coco wiped away a tear and said. "When Jaune buried Gypsum he buried his wife. But she was also MY SISTER!" her voice was cracking and growing hoarse. It was clear this was a hard topic for her to discuss.

"That was why Yatsuhashi tried to beat the shit out of Jaune, he blamed him for what happened" Coco continued as she turned her back to leave.

With that Yang was left standing on the landing pad alone. Unbeknownst to her, a pair of black birds was watching over her. Unaware of their presence Yang stayed there for some time. She was lost in her own anger and it wasn't until it started to Rain that she chose to make her way back inside.

When she arrived her team once more said nothing, whether they knew what had happened or not they seemed to melancholy to act. Laying her head down she did her best to rest but she knew she was cursed to have a sleepless night.


	4. Chapter 4

A knock at the door awoke Blake from her sleep. She opened it to see a tall and skinny man with shortcut wild black hair and slight stubble. In a tired voice she asked him "Who are you,?" she knew that she should have been ready for an attack but she was in Beacon and she was tired so she let it go.

When he answered she could smell the alcohol on his breath and began to wonder if leaving her punch dagger in her bedside table was a good idea

"I came to see my nieces. Ruby and Yang. my name is Qrow." his voice was about as gravelly as an abandoned dust mine. But he seemed serious enough that she let him in.  
He walked over to Ruby's bed and gently rubbed the top of her head. When her eye's opened they were sleepy and she said. "Uncle Qrow. what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I hear that you and your sister were having a tough time so I dropped by to visit, thought I might try to cheer you up." as he spoke Ruby sat up in bed and grabbed her uncle around the waist and squeezed.

"We lost Pyrrha, Uncle Qrow, she's gone. And so is Luke and Jaune." as she spoke she cried softly into her uncle's shirt.

"I heard about Pyrrha, but what happened to Luke and Jaune?" Qrow asked as he gently rubbed the half sized reapers shaking shoulders.

"They ran away." she sobbed. She was trying really hard to not wake up Weiss or Yang. they need sleep and she needed to do this.

Qrow ran a hand through her hair as he said. " it's alright kiddo, I here. It's gonna be alright. This hurts and it's supposed to. Remember what I told you when Bud died.

"If we live without emotions then were nothing more than Grimm," she said. It was what Qrow used to help her through losing Bud and now it would help her through losing Pyrrha.

She managed to get her breathing under control and then she pointed to her sister "Yang needs you more than I do right now, go."

Qrow knew what Ruby was doing, she was deflecting. Summer did it too. He just hoped that when she finally let it out she was safe.

Walking over to Yang he reached down and ran his hand through her hair. He knew that he was one of the few people that can do that and not lose a hand so he used it.

"Hey firework," he said when he saw Yang's eyes open. "How ya feeling?"

She didn't answer, not that she really needed to. Her eyes watered up with tears and she too hugged her uncle.

"I trusted him Uncle Qrow, I trusted him and he betrayed me." the more she spoke the more she got upset.

Trying his best to be as comforting as he can Qrow said "hey, who betrayed give me a name and I'll bring you a scalp." leaning in he whispered. "If you ask nicely I may bring back two"

As he had hoped the joke got a grin out of the otherwise somber teen.

"It was Jaune," Blake said. "After he got the news he broke, he broke told Yang that he hated all of us and that he was leaving."

At this point Weiss began to wonder how it was going to be before Blake hired an ACTUAL hit man to kill Jaune, she had already sent Hansen after him and before they found out how that went she was sending Ruby and Yang's uncle after him too.

Weiss also expected to see the legendary temper of Qrow Branwen when he found out but much to her shock he took on a more questioning demeanor and asked"

"Yang, tell me everything that happened when Jaune and Luke got back".

…

After she had explained to her uncle she saw him start to rub his forefinger and thumb on either side of the bridge of his nose.

"Well firework, I have good news for you," he said with his head still bowed.

He received no verbal response just a look that reminded Qrow how much like Raven she looked.

"He cares about you, all of you," he said as he waved his hand around the room to gesture to the rest of her team.

Knowing that this was going to be confusing to the girls he didn't wait for them to say anything and he just kept talking.

"When he heard what Lark and bronzewing said he agreed with them, he blames himself for all of the shit that he has been through all the friends that he has lost. He thinks that he needs to protect all of you from HIMSELF so he did everything that he could to make the four of you hate him before he left so that you wouldn't try to find him."

After a long pause, Qrow continued. "It is also why he was so drunk. He had to say things that you break your spirit and he could do that while he was sober."

It wasn't lost on Yang that after he said this Qrow pulled out his flask and took a large swig before he headed for the door saying.

"Well, I've said what I can. I am also being called to Ozpin's office while I am here. I will see the four of you later."

With that, he was gone. He had closed the door and left the four of them to think about what they had now heard. It made sense but none of them were in a good position to trust Jaune.

"I don't care why he did it he still needs to answer for what he has done," Weiss said from her bed.

"I agree," Blake said. It was rare that the two of them agreed lead alone agree so fully.

Yang went to say something but was cut off by a voice that seemed to be coming from within her own mind.

"Students of Beacon," it was Jorge and he sounded pissed

"My name if Jorge Telmarvak, some of you know who I am others don't. That changes today. If you stay in your rooms you will be safe if you leave I cannot promise that you will be unharmed. I have come to this place to finally wipe an ancient evil from this land. This will not take long, however, I must insist that you stay in your rooms."

There was a moment of pause before Jorge continued.

"Teachers of Beacon, my quarrel is not with you. However. I will not tolerate being opposed if you wish to protect your students may do so by going to them. But hear this," as he finished his voice lowered to a growl. "If you value your safety and health stay the FUCK OUT OF MY WAY"

"Finally, OZPIN. Your time has come. You will answer for what you have done."

 _that is the end of this story soon to follow is "Beacon's Fall, and the Death of a wizard."_


End file.
